World Report, International Easter Concert, and Sunday School!

We have had lots of events this past week, however, most of them have been on Zoom, In Studio, or Language coaching. We did each get to do two events in the COB. 

On Monday we had a very nice Mission Devotional in the morning. We heard from several missionaries in the Family Search Department. They shared some incredible stories of helping people connect to their families. Some people wander into the center not knowing why or what goes on in there. They say they just felt compelled to go in. Once there a missionary shares a bit about what goes on and asks them if they would like to know more about their family. They start inputting some names into the computer of deceased relatives. Sometimes they get so excited they start calling living relatives to get some names to enter. Then the magic happens. All of a sudden they don't just see a couple of names they have entered, but it goes back many generations. They can explore where their ancestors are from and where their decedents may be living now. It is very exciting. We love hearing about their stories.

Our events for Monday were all in studio or on Zoom. One I really wanted to watch was the "International Easter Concert 2022", but I guess we will have to wait until it is broadcast like everyone else. I also wanted to see the "World Report April 2022 - Spanish & Portuguese." Spanish was the first day and Portuguese the next day. This one was done in studio so we didn't get to see anything again. And another session of the "DRC Leadership Conference with Elder Cook, March 2022" was all done on Zoom.

Sister Checketts teaching Sunday School.

Tuesday the Portuguese portion of the "World Report April 2022 - Spanish & Portuguese" was done, however, instead of doing it in studio with our SLC team it was change to Tieline last minute so we really didn't see anything. I spent most of the day helping people and in meetings. I did to work a little on my General Conference spreadsheet. I found this week that I had to do most of "my" work after I got home at night where there were no other interruptions or distractions. It made for some late nights.

Sunday School class - small because
it decided to snow again today.

Wednesday was rather busy. Elder Wilcox and I started the morning around 6:30. We had back to back events for French. We had another session of the "DRC Leadership Conference with Elder Cook, March 2022" which was normally on Zoom. DRC is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, because the French were also doing part of the morning Tieline for the "World Report April 2022 - Europe & Asia" they had to come into the COB. We were told they would do the Zoom from the COB. So we arranged breakfast and we showed up along with the Engineer. The French did not. They did it on Zoom from their homes after all. Only one French interpreter was doing both events and apparently she lives about 15 minutes away so she finished one and arrived just in time to do the second one. We had a different engineer for the second one. I'm not sure who ate breakfast. We gave a bunch of names to the cafeteria so they could just get whatever breakfast they wanted. We didn't get to see either event broadcast to us. I was able to work on some General Conference stuff. I also had a couple of conference calls too. The event was suppose to go to noon but ended a little before 11. However, we stayed because we had a noon event to do as well. This was another "HRD Development @ Work - Quality Control." Again, it was not broadcast to us. It ended just in time for me to run upstairs for our team meeting. I take the minutes. After that meeting was my PLUNET meeting and then we planned on going home. hahahaha

The Linfords were doing the second half of the "World Report April 2022 - Europe & Asia" which included all the Asia areas. Those languages were coming into the COB so they had a dinner AND it was broadcast for them so they could watch. 😢  Around 5:00 we were ready to leave I got a call from Curtis who was supervising the World Report. He wanted us to stop by downstairs on our way home because he had a story to tell us. Curtis's stories are ALWAYS entertaining and usually very educational so we stopped by. He was just getting ready to tell the Linfords how he came to be where he is at now. We had never heard the story before so he wanted to share it with us too. It was an amazing story and very fun to hear. One thing to know about Curtis. If he is the Supervisor over an event, don't count on being able to watch the event because Curtis LOVES to talk. He always has some fascinating stories to share. (I shared the death masks of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith some time ago). He has opportunities to meet many amazing people and to become part of some incredible projects. He was helping a professor with his research for the Joseph Smith Papers and shared a very cool discovery about how they were able to finally read an original journal page from Joseph Smith that had never been read before through spectral imaging. Very cool!!! Just at that point in his story there was a segment in the World Report that talked about the Joseph Smith papers project so we got to watch that. There are NO coincidences, only tender mercies from God.

On Thursday night we got to do the "EnglishConnect Webinar". We did have a dinner for French, Portuguese, and Spanish; but, once again, they did NOT broadcast the event for us. It was a short event so we got home fairly early. There were lots of left overs so we got to take home some Chicken Pot Pies....yummy! This was another late night for me as I was finally able to work on the spreadsheets for General Conference. 

Friday was the morning session of the "EnglishConnect Webinar". The Linfords covered that one. The rest of the events for the day were all zoom, in studio, or language coaching. I finally finished the spreadsheet and gave Elder Linford the next list of interpreters to add to our General Conference PLUNET order. I did a little more tweaking on it so it should work very smoothly for the next two weeks. We are in so much better shape this conference than last. Almost everyone is onboarded into PLUNET. The few that aren't yet, are very close so we should be in good shape. We have had so many areas submit names to PLUNET too. Our finance team is overwhelmed with all the work they are trying to get done. Unfortunately we have some Interpreters who struggle to get everything filled out and submitted quite the way finance wants them too. I've been working with a few interpreters for several weeks now and they are still having problems. We tried having them print it out and fill it in and take a picture and send that in; but, of course that got rejected. Some just are not tech savvy and it is very hard for them to understand the instructions. They are frustrated and I am frustrated because finance won't send me the forms so I can help them. I've tried to get them on a zoom call so I can see what they see but sometimes that is too difficult for them to do as well. All we can do is the best we can.

We didn't have any events this weekend so that was nice. I had some HawkSoft work to do and, of course, more General Conference to follow-up on. Eunlan sent a text first thing in the morning that ended up taking about 2 hours. Then Curtis asked for something too, but that was only a few minutes. He asked why I was working on a Saturday and and then said, "You should be in a hockey rink slamming opponents or skydiving or alligator wrestling or something else missionary-like." He cracks me up all the time.

Sunday was very laid back. Niiiiccccceeeee!

One very special thing that happened this week has brought tears to my eyes every time I think about it. Our SLC Ukrainian team has been inactive for I don't know how long. We have NO one in our team roster. With all that is going on in the Ukraine we realized that they will probably not be able to do General Conference in country. We, of course, wanted to give them the chance if they wanted it, but we told them we could take care of it here to help them out. They were very appreciative of the offer. Eunlan, who is the Supervisor in charge of General Conference, reached out to our Russian SLC Interpreter Coordinator (IC) and asked her if she could help find some Ukrainian interpreters for General Conference. She agreed to help and has spent several hours and days reaching out to people all over the SLC area as well as in other parts of the country and even Canada to find people to make up a team. She found 8 and we are in the process of RUSH onboarding them into PLUNET so they can do General Conference. She is managing that team and is training them with all they need to know. It only reinforces what I have believed all along. The people in both countries are not at war with one another. It is only leaders who are out of control that make it bad for so many people and is destroying so many lives. My heart breaks, but I am so touched by the love and support our Russian IC is showing the Ukrainians. Please pray for them!

One last thing. We talked about Genesis 37 to 50 today in Sunday School. It is the story of Joseph being sold into Egypt and how he rose to become the second only to Pharaoh. Joseph came to realize that all those bad things that happened in his life were turned to good in the Hands of the Lord. Heavenly Father didn't cause the bad things to happen, but He used them to help Joseph rise above his afflictions and become the second more powerful man in Egypt and put him in charge to be able to literally save the Israelites. We were then asked how the Lord has used trials in our lives for good. We shared with one another some of those times. 

The biggest thing I have recognized in my life has become evidently more clear how the Hand of the Lord was there all along. For years I struggled with being a working mom. I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom so I could be there for our children. Circumstances were such that I had to work through most of their growing up years. There were a LOT of 2 income households then. I couldn't understand why the Lord wouldn't grant what I considered to be a righteous desire. I also prayed that all I wanted to do was be an instrument in the Hands of the Lord to do His will. It wasn't until we started working in this particular mission that I realized the Lord used my "trial" for my good and for His higher purpose. He has granted me the more righteous desire of my heart which is to be an instrument in His Hands to do His Will. I now know that everything I have ever learned in my entire working career has come to be of great value in this very mission at this very time. The Lord does have a plan for me and for you. He never forces; but, He will use our choices (good or bad) to further His work along in His own due time. We can either learn from our trials and trust in the Lord that they are indeed for our good, or we can fight Him all the way and be miserable. In the end Heavenly Father's plan will still turn out the way it is supposed to turn out. I choose to trust in the Lord with all my heart and let Him direct my paths.

All our Love and Prayers,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox